“I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come, eternal life.”  Luke 18:30.
Voting in this year’s national election has become an explosive issue. What’s to become of this country when voting is so contentious and so subject to interference from the outside and (now!) from the inside?   

Like those very worrisome fires in California last week, it feels like our democracy has become an inferno. Like Louisiana after Laura, our souls have been flooded and flattened by the cyclone of the political campaigns, which have only now begun in earnest. The year 2020 is what we call a live moment when anything can happen in this election.

But vote we can. Vote we must. And vote we will.

But did you know that when you go to the polls on November 3 (or mail in your ballot), you will be following the same practice observed by Town Meetings in Massachusetts since 1630—voting. In those days, only men with property were allowed to vote; today, all citizens over the age of 18 can vote, black or white, male or female, although it took a long long time before the franchise was universal. We celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage this year, but we sometimes forget that it was 60 very hard fought years in the making. Such that now, finally, we have more than 127 women in the US Congress, 26 in the Senate, 101 in the House, of whom 48 are women of color!

The practice of voting started in colonial, Congregational Massachusetts. 160 years before the US Constitution was signed by the 13 colonies, public decisions were made collectively. A point of theological significance lay at the foundation of this policy—self-governance was a virtue rooted in the spiritual freedom in Christ, and the common-wealth depended on honoring a covenant between citizens to consult and to support each other.
Now, even though voting in our American democracy has been cast into some doubt, nevertheless, we still govern ourselves very reliably that way in our Congregationally rooted churches in the United Church of Christ—so we are a democracy here. What kind of a democracy—direct democracy or representative democracy? 

Well, it’s a blend of both. Members cast votes directly when it comes to hiring or firing the minister, buying or selling property, and approving or amending the budget—that’s the direct part. But members also elect officers, council members, and commissioners who deliberate and carry out with the staff programmatic and administrative matters for them all year long—that’s the representative part.

You may be asking yourselves, just what have I done by joining a congregational church? Did you realize what you were getting into? I’m curious, What was involved in your becoming a member in the first place—classes, vows, sign a book? Were the rights and responsibilities outlined for you? Did anyone describe the uniqueness of churches, being living organisms whose different parts act in concert, being wellsprings of inspiration and the source of an alternative perspective on life that you can’t get from the MFA, the country club or any other voluntary association?
What a concept, a congregational church is run by the congregation! But to be a Congregational church, unlike a nation, a vote means more than voting and forgetting. Voting means ownership and accountability, which in turn means attention and follow-through. I like to say that a Congregational church is an Owner-operated, Equal-opportunity, Total Participation GOSPEL MISSION CENTER.

As a consequence, to be successful (just like a nation), a church needs an informed electorate and a committed one. Right now, that is more true than ever at Eliot Church. Because, Eliot is in a transition as you know perfectly well. But also because, occasionally, the elected leadership goes back to the congregation to vote on other matters of consequence, which is what I want to discuss with you today, one year and two months into this Interim period.  
Although an Interim Minister is not a REAL minister, as someone here once wondered if it was the case, I want to clarify that my role is to be a resource, a cheerleader—and a TIMEKEEPER. And right now, I’m saying it’s time for you to decide what kind of a church you want to be, and to find the appropriate words to include in the church Profile which goes out to prospective candidates for Settled Pastor.

The Interim process is like a sabbatical when there is no pressure and there is time to reflect and rethink life a little bit.
Our process began last fall with the “Soundings” program, then shifted gears last January when the Discernment Committee was appointed by the Leadership Council, and now it will continue soon with Small Group discussions to collect data and solicit the ideas and opinions of the congregation.

This will lead you ultimately to two Congregational Votes, the first one about the Church Vision and the second one when you appoint the Search Committee for Settled Pastor. No dates have been set yet for these votes, but I believe we can be ready with the Congregational Profile and to appoint a Search Committee by January 1st. Setting any and all deadlines is the responsibility of the Leadership Council—I’m just putting a stake out there for leadership to adjust as they see fit and for a target for you.

So right now, your Cheerleader and Timekeeper is asking for your concentration over the next 3-4 months, during which a Church Vision for the future will emerge from surveys and conversations led by the Discernment Committee, and they are hard at work as we speak.
 
No one is asking you to leave house or husband or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God exactly, but any alteration you can make in your plans, any extra effort you might dedicate, any new way you could devise to participate in the building up of this beloved Eliot community will be repaid, Jesus said to the disciples and, by extension, us, as much in this age as in the age of eternal life to come.
 
What repayment did Jesus have in mind, in this age, during your lifetime—the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, enrichment of spirit, wisdom, well-being, fellow-feeling—that’s what’s in store for you!
 
So let me involve you, let me entice you to find a place or a role in the exciting work of this church at this particular juncture. Think of it this way--you’re not betting on a horse and hoping it wins—you are investing in a horse to help it win.

Mainly, commit yourself to follow the action, read all our media, and respond (write RevRick “I loved what you said about. . .” or to Dr. Elizabeth, “That book looks interesting but I can’t attend.”)  Here’s a quick run-down of some of the action at your church today--
​

1. Discernment now (Search later).
2. Reorganization—3 of our projects are to Right-size (a Discernment sub-committee is studying different models to bring our operations into proportion with the congregation; a new Operations Manual is being developed; and (my pet wish) cleaning out storage spaces (Ugly Room, Chapel rail, parlor kitchen, boiler room, behind the stage).
   
3. Rebuilding. This means strengthening the congregation’s interconnectivity—despite Covid-19, we will replace the missing glue in this congregation through phone and internet. One more Outdoor Service is planned for Sept 13 (maybe more weather permitting) which we could target as a ReGathering Sunday.

• Dr. Elizabeth’s initiatives—Anti-Racism, family reading group, Real Housewives of the Bible.
• RevRick’s initiatives (ART(iculation) Mob, John Eliot Research (as part of 175th Anniversary and Anti-Racism), Columns, Zoom Environmental Interviews, One-Minute Minister).
• Monique’s initiatives--working with the Section Leaders and integrating them into our Online recorded worship services this fall.
• 175th Anniversary--we have to go back to the drawing board due to Covid-19, but Susan Nason will let us know about next steps.

I am asking you to accept roles where we have vacancies (MSJ, Facilities, Spiritual Life), and by all means participate and be prepared to Vote the Vision by Christmas time.

We are not many, so we must be judicious in what the staff offers and what volunteers take on. But we can increase the quality and depth of the Eliot experience and get some momentum going toward the Call of a Settled Pastor, however short or long a time that may take. We are in it for the duration.

This sermon sounds to me a little like a political convention speech of which we have heard too many now; nevertheless, I will circulate this in our different media in the hopes of corralling each and every one of you faithful.
We face some headwinds from COVID-19; and there is natural resistance to change. But your devotion to Christ will overcome those impediments!

No one is asking you to leave house or husband or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God exactly, but any alteration you make in your plans for the sake of building up this beloved community will be repaid, Jesus said to the disciples and, by extension, us, as much in this age as in the age of Eternal Life to come.

--Rev. Richard Chrisman

​Psalm 62
Revelation 8:1-5
 
I.
 
Just listen again to all the ways our Psalmist this morning describes what God means to him—hope, rock, mighty rock, salvation, fortress, deliverance, honor, refuge.
 
And listen to how human beings are described—a breath (if you're poor), a delusion (if you are rich), and because together we are lighter than air itself, we aren’t even able to weigh down our side of the scales.
 
We the vulnerable have one recourse and one only in this earthly life, not crime nor violence nor riches, none of which will add to our security or happiness.  It was a world where life was uncertain and wellbeing a sometime thing—that’s certainly not what we grew up believing in middle class American households.
 
Today for the first time for all of us, life is reverting to what had once been a normal baseline for planetary existence for millennia—what we are calling the “new normal” was really the old normal before there were bank accounts, retirement savings, health insurance, mega-hospitals, a pharmacopeia of 20,000 drugs on the market, jet air travel, paved roads, seat belts, lighted streets, sewage and sanitation systems, etc.  All of which had the effect over the last 70 years of adding 10 years to American life expectancy.
 
So the notion of absolute dependence upon God for all things, as professed by the Psalmist, is foreign to us.
 
II.
 
Even so, we do make known what needs we may have through the prayers we say when we lay our heads on the pillow at night, or those we have said for us at church.  Practiced the way we commonly see them done, these petitions are rather utilitarian.  They are as such not invalid, but they do not bring us much satisfaction either.  Because as prayed, such prayers are haunted by age-old speculations on whether prayer gets answered, and why some prayers get answered and others do not, and whether it makes a difference to God if we enlist many other people in praying for what we need, and is it right for God to answer my prayer and not somebody else’s, and if I ask for the rain my garden needs, will I be ruining somebody’s parade?
 
These questions never get answered because they have no answer, given the mistaken assumption upon which they are based about a mechanistic God sitting at a cosmic telephone switchboard.  So, surrounded as we are by a bevy of uncertainties, we pray but we don’t always raise very confident prayers—or some people just give up praying for that matter.
 
And so, listen again to the exhortation of the Psalmist, who enjoins us to “pour out our hearts before God.” Just take a cursory glance at any two or three or four psalms, and you can see that’s exactly what the Psalmist does over and over again—he pours out his heart before God.  The Psalmist, in fact, models for us the very life of prayer which he urges upon us when he says, “pour out your hearts before God”—because his prayers are expostulations, explosions of feeling, eruptions of felt emotion originating in the depths of his being.
 
The Psalmist’s prayers are not so much petitions asking for solutions to problems or relief from exigency, but rather are acts of pure expression—what we call emotional honesty, a good example of which comes from Jesus himself when he prayed in Gethsemane, “Let this cup pass from me,” in other words, I am deathly afraid.
 
True prayer—the kind of prayer we need in this pandemic—amounts to moments of honesty before our God, which is not so easy when we are not even honest with ourselves and shy about doing so in front of our friends.
 
The spiritual goal is elusive—prayer is a gradual process of increasing honesty, of self-clarification.  Ultimately, prayer will bring me to see myself as God sees me and lead me out of my paralysis, my fears, my quandaries about what the heck to do next.  This kind of prayer rises from the spiritual depths, the words coming from a deeper place than asking for favors, or solutions, or anything of that sort.
 
So, what we call prayer is really not at base an activity at all; prayer is a state of being which occasionally makes its difficult way gradually into words or tears or sighs (remember St. Paul’s sighs too deep for words?), or into physical gestures like the use of worry beads or rosaries, the lighting of candles, the kneeling, or the standing, or the davening at Orthodox Jewish Shabbat.
 
Prayer starts somewhere before words but which eventually releases an infinite variety of moods, depths, dimensions, shapes, sounds, words, and smells—yes even smells, as when in the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos sees “the smoke of the incense from the angel’s hand go up before God with his people’s prayers” (Revelation 8:4), an image which draws from the smoke of Israelite sacrifices which were pleasing to God and also anticipates the incense of traditional Christian practice at Holy Communion.
 
Before even finding such words or gestures, prayer is the state of being in which I am open and responsive to that creative process which is God, a process that will transform me as I cannot transform myself, which is why the Psalmist calls God his rock, his salvation, his fortress, and refuge, but not for the purpose of mere rescue.
 
Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great Jewish theologian who taught at Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC and walked with King in the civil rights marches, and who died in 1972, wrote about prayer in this way:
 
“The essence of religion does not lie in the satisfaction of a human need.”  Prayer serves us principally to express “our sense of the ineffable,” our wonder at the sheer fact of being, and thanks for the inexplicable facts of daily life which are mistakenly called “miracles” but really are.
 
In sum, religion is not to be viewed as an expedient, and prayer is not to be construed as the petitioning of God off the top of our heads to give us this day our daily wishes.
 
So I believe the title of Anne Lamott’s book on prayer has the right ingredients, just in the wrong order—it shouldn’t be HELP THANKS WOW, it should be the reverse: WOW THANKS HELP—first praise, next gratitude, and then succor redefined.  Maybe Lamott addresses this in her book, which I haven’t actually read, but I use her schematic to help put our prayer life on a more secure footing—not misunderstanding prayer as a strictly or even remotely utilitarian affair it is commonly taken to be—we need to, we must be, praying more powerfully.
 
Worldwide and national circumstances today have us falling back on our religion, and it will only help us mightily if we get the depth of prayer right.
 
 
III.
 
Yes, prayer works—you hear people say that, and it’s true. Funny thing about it is, though, it’s a mystery.  Nobody understands how it works, because prayer is not the words, it’s the source of the words coming from our spiritual core, our foundation. 
 
Of course, we would naturally want to know: how do I situate myself in that state, how do I place my feet on prayer’s true foundation?
 
Another great Jewish theologian, the mystic and philosopher, Martin Buber, who died in 1965, wrote, “Religion is essentially the act of holding fast to God.”  The foundations of prayer are simply what Buber called “holding fast,” embracing the Other—the God beyond God, the creative spirit which is divinely infused into all matter and all manner of being, whose nature is, again the Psalmist’s human terms, everlasting mercy and lovingkindness,. 
 
Religion, Buber wrote, is not the “massive body of statements, concepts, and activities including liturgical prayers that one customarily describes by the name of religion and that [men and women] seem to long for more than God,” with all its instructions how to worship, how to pray, how to be saved.  Rather, just hold fast to God.
 
This is perhaps the place, in conclusion, to say a word about the prayers I offer here or at meetings or at bedsides or in my church office.  With me, the distance between my own personal depths and the surface where my words break forth is very great (due to being in my head so much!), and so it helps me sometimes to take recourse to the written prayers, or the liturgical prayers, or the famous prayers (Lord’s Prayer, St. Francis, the Serenity Prayer), which is what we all do in public worship in our tradition.
 
At other times, the depths are closer to the surface and an emotional honesty spontaneously breaks through.  I never reach the pitch achieved in the black store-front churches where I worshiped in Chicago, I suppose because of my training, class and race and the inhibitions that come with that—although I can write such prayers, and do.  When we say, “Let us pray…”, we are trying to break through the surface, the best our poor spirits can, to pour out our hearts to God.
 
As a minister, I see my function and vocation as being to proclaim the gospel in such a way that you may find your own way to prayer’s depths, for you to experience, not communication, as if “talking” to God, but real communion with God.
 
And that’s what I want for you to do—to hold fast to God, and every day to say, WOW, THANKS, HELP.
 
Rev. Richard Chrisman, August 16, 2020

“Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven.” 
​Mark 3:29
 
What a cathartic week in the United States of America! We have certainly been given our marching orders now. 
 
The death of John Lewis, Lewis’ words played in the Rotunda, the Edmund Pettis bridge crossing, his funeral with Pres. Obama’s eulogy—an emotional week, powerful both in replaying the important history which we not only witnessed but actually have had a part, and powerful in anticipating history still to be made, as we were instructed by John Lewis himself in his departing message to us.
 
He wrote, just before his death,
“Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.”
 
I said last Sunday that it’s time for Eliot to invoke the Holy Spirit. Because if we are to find our way to the next settled minister, it will take the Holy Spirit working in us. If we are to make our way through this pandemic, it will take the Holy Spirit inspiring us. And, if we are to fulfill John Lewis’ charge, it will take the Holy Spirit in us. 
 
Because the springboard to effective struggle for peace, of course, is through inner peace.   Gandhi, King and John Lewis were unanimous in rejecting hate and promoting love. They unanimously directed us in a spiritual practice. 
 
We are told, aren’t we, be the change, the peace, you wish for the world. I believe a version of that injunction can be found in Jesus: seek the kingdom, the peace, of God and all else will follow. Now that is our subject—the inner peace without which the long march toward justice is impossible. You could detect that peace in John Lewis’ own voice and personal demeanor—where can we get some of that?
 
There is one word for it, and it is in forgiveness, the sum and substance of the New Testament, the core of Christ’s gospel. The good news is that forgiveness will set you free, and forgiveness will free you to seek the freedom of others.
 
I say to you, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of forgiveness.
 
Claim the Holy Spirit of the apostles who found its power to heal in their time of desperate political upheaval.
 
Claim the Holy Spirit of Pentecost—those flames that appeared over the heads of the ecstatic crowds in Jerusalem 50 days after the Resurrection, they were on fire with some experience that made them one, speaking one language in that they mutually understood each other across nationality and race, unifying what was fractured—they were responding to the gospel truth of forgiveness which unites and restores people to right relation with each other.
 
Yes, and claim the Holy Spirit where the Words of Institution in Holy Communion invoke the Holy Spirit over the elements miraculously effecting the forgiveness Christ.
 
Claim into the Holy Spirit as when Christ on the cross asks the Father to forgive those responsible for his innocent death.
 
Claim the Holy Spirit just the way Jesus breathed upon Thomas and the disciples as they gathered after the crucifixion when he said, “The sins you forgive are forgiven, the sins you don’t forgive are retained.”
 
You see, the Holy Spirit is what reveals to you that your perceived opposite is yourself.
 
What’s forgiveness got to do with that?
 
You will only be asking that because you have not yet seen the kingdom of forgiveness in its totality, which include—pardon, grace, amnesty, reprieve, release forbearance, acquit, exonerate—all stream out from under the subsumptive symbol of that single, capacious word, forgiveness.
 
Such are the many different ways forgiveness plays itself out in the infinite variety of day to day conflicts of human life—because forgiveness has multiple dimensions, multiple facets, multiple applications, multiple phases and stages as we take our spiritual walk toward death.
 
Forgiveness is the tip of the proverbial iceberg of human relationships that need righting and reconciling.
 
Are you among the unforgiven? Will you remain so? Are you among the unforgiving? Will you remain so?
 
Perhaps so, but don’t be like people who reject forgiveness assuming forgiveness is like a light switch you flip to turn on the lights.
 
Perhaps your church has not impressed upon you enough the complete dynamics of forgiveness, which include pain, guilt, confession, remorse, repentance, renunciation, reform, acceptance, freedom, then celebration—multiplied by TWO because forgiveness is a two-way street, depending on whether you are unforgiven or unforgiving.
 
There’s no light switch called forgive and forget—there is only the long, gradual life process heated by the Holy Spirit called forgiveness. For lack of the Holy Spirit, you may not yet have accepted that God has accepted you—that you are pre-approved for this mortgage.
 
You heard in the scripture lesson this morning about the one unforgivable sin and probably wondered like everybody else in the last 2000 years why it was the only unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. Well, Jesus was being hyperbolic because his critics accused him of casting out demons as a demon himself—hence that long preamble. But his conclusion was simple—if you deny the Holy Spirit, which is the spirit of forgiveness, you have thereby disqualified yourself from forgiveness.
 
That’s obviously what makes it an unforgivable sin. Otherwise, there is no such thing as an outright unforgivable sin—so long as you don’t deny forgiveness.
 
Are you among the unforgiven? Will you remain so? Are you among the unforgiving? Will you remain so? Have you accepted your acceptance yet?
 
It is so important that you do so. It’s why we need to do it over and over, which is why we (try to) come to church every Sunday. It will free you to do the good you seem to want but cannot do, it will free you to act (as John Lewis felt free enough to act) for the sake of others, it will heal you of the paralysis (remember Jesus’ miracle) caused by guilt from the past and fear of the future.
 
Are you among the unforgiven? Will you remain so? Are you among the unforgiving? Will you remain so?
 
Jesus said to the disciples at the Last Supper, “Love each other as I have loved you.” The content of the word “love,” in the command “Love one another,” is forgiveness—it is the core, the root meaning of acceptance which we all need and seek. When you “take and eat,” in the communion service, you accept that God accepts you. 
 
In every communion service you hear pronounced, “Behold, the Lamb of God [meaning Jesus] who takes away the sins of the world.” Well, don’t think that happens from the sky by some magical sweep of a wand across the planet. The forgiveness of Christ is perpetual—but your acceptance is contingent until you accept your acceptance?
 
How do you do that?
 
Now, we can’t participate just now in Holy Communion the way we do on the first Sunday of the month. But at any meal today at home, before you begin, you can simply announce, “Jesus says to us, forgive one another as I have forgiven you.” Do you not in this way make holy the communion among your family members? By that means, you renew and continue your way on the path to restored relationships and, ultimately, a healed nation.
 
In a curious way, this democracy—based on Enlightenment principles of the 18th century—really seems to presuppose what Christianity of the 1st century makes possible and calls for—deeply felt, fully mutual interracial acceptance.
 
That blessing of the Holy Spirit is only the beginning, as you then go on to enlarge the circle of acceptance beyond family, beyond church, beyond your social circle, beyond your neighborhood to accept and promote the humanity of everyone, just as John Lewis urged upon us yesterday.
Amen.
 
Rev. Richard Chrisman, 8/2/2020